Slowly Freezing
by starwarswiz
Summary: Westeros is in chaos, Ciersi is on the Iron Throne, Jon Snow is King in the North, Arya is alone in the wilderness, Dany is on her way west, and Bran comes south to warn the kingdoms. What they don't realize is the enemy in on their doorstep, bringing winter with him and killing everything in his path.


The sun came slowly over the horizon behind the massive display and bathed the world in a deep red. The faint signs of life began to come over the ships as they began the daily routines aboard. The lead ship Daenerys stood watching the sun rise and felt the sea air on her skin as the wind continued to push them further towards her goal. Drogon lay across the ship with his head by her silently resting as she kept contact with his strong neck. She heard footsteps approached and turned to find Varys coming, she didn't know whether this was good or bad.

"Your Grace, offly early isn't it?" he said.

"Not to me, I often wake up this early just to enjoy the view before it all becomes horror."

"Rather morbid but I suppose the small enjoyments are worth the pains."

"I need to thank you for all you have done, Lord Varys."

"Just Varys, and I did what I did for the realm. After watching the disaster of the Baratheons and Lannisters, we need true stability. Though not all the Lannisters are truly evil."

"You're speaking of Tyrion."

"No, I talk of his brother."

"The one who murdered my father. How could he not be evil?"

"His act was not of evil. This story is not known by many but I was privy to all of your father's plans before his demise. He ordered the storing of wildfire throughout King's Landing. Underneath the sept, the Red Keep, Fleabottom, the Street of Steel, all of it."

"Why?"

"After Rhaegar's death on the Trident, the end was inevitable. He hoped the rebels would take the city and he would kill them all in one swoop and he would rise again a dragon and all would bow to him. Jaime Lannister stopped that from happening."

"They told me my father was mad but I am not him and hope to never be him. I hope that you stay true to your word, I still don't forget how you conspired to kill me."

He nodded and then remained silent and Daenerys turned her attention back to the sunrise. Drogon stirred slightly but then relaxed again as she petted his snout. She watched as her fleet continued its course directly towards Dragonstone and then King's Landing itself. Varys had told her of what Cersei had done to the Sept of Baelor and all that died in the huge explosion. It horrified her of what happened and she knew that this was now a mission of mercy for those under her thumb.

She often wondered what it would be like with her sailing west with her army and dragons and often dreamed of the day that it would become reality. It was real and a sense of anxiety weighed over her now that she was responsible for so many lives and possible futures. She heard another set of footsteps but did not turn to see who it was and continued to look at the horizon.

"Lovely sight. I would hope that nothing troubles you?" Tyrion asked.

She smiled and looked over to him, and he too was looking out at the sea and had a hand on Drogon to support himself. The dragon did not seem to mind and actually understood what he was doing and helped him stay upright. He did not wear the Hand's badge and was still clothed in nightly garbs meaning he had just woken. She trusted him without a doubt and honestly was glad he came as he helped fill the whole Ser Jorah had left when he rode off to die. Part of her still hoped he would come back but slowly as the days passed that seemed less likely to happen.

"Not really, just up viewing to world."

"It is a wonderful pass time. I would often go out to the walls of the Red Keep and look over Blackwater Bay early and I would forget what ailed me for the time."

The boat rocked heavily and just as Tyrion was about to stumble over Drogon moved his head and caught him before he could hit the deck.

"Looks like you've made a friend." Daenerys joked.

Tyrion smiled, "Many always say that dragons are the smartest creatures in the world. The fact that he recognizes me is more evidence."

"Well if he acts this way that means I can trust you and you can trust him. Dragons are difficult to read but sometimes they are as easy as books."

"Well spoken. I hear my sister blew up the Great Sept."

"Indeed along with the High Septon and most of the Tyrells. Why do you think she did it?"

"Power. Cersei is not hard to understand. She loves her children and would do anything to protect them, she also hates those who would try and take them from her. My guess is whoever was in that sept was seen as and enemy in her eyes and she saw and opportunity to take them all out in one stroke. Risky but very effective."

"But she lost her son anyway."

"Yes and no doubt it pains her to watch the last one die but this makes her even more dangerous. Without her children Cersei won't care what she has to do to keep power and won't give it up without dying first."

—

In short Jamie was horrified. When he returned to King's Landing he didn't know what to expect but the fact that the sept had been destroyed was not one of them. He watched as Cersei took the throne and he couldn't believe his own eyes. For so long he fought only for Cersei and her love but now that didn't matter, the entire game had changed. In Jamie's eyes Cersei was only one thing now, she was utterly mad.

It was hard to admit that but what she had done was in such the style of the Mad King that Jamie was sickened. He currently sat in his chambers drinking a small cup of wine and waited for her to arrive as he knew she would. The day was cold as the white raven from the Citadel told of winter's arrival and many of the green that could be seen around the city had turned to reds, yellows, and oranges. He knew it would only get worse and now the city was going to slowly starve without the Tyrell food.

He heard the door open and she walked in. She was dressed in a black dress with armor plated on her shoulders and arms. Her face was expressionless as she marched over and took seat right next to him and then waited.

"You finally did, you killed all your enemies and now sit the Iron Throne. But you have also doomed the city by alienating the Tyrells. Walder Frey and his two eldest sons now lie dead, and Riverrun in in the hands of the escaped Edmure Tulley. The Boltons have lost Winterfell to Jon Snow and Sansa Stark and now proclaim him King in the North. The Tyrell and Martell armies have vanished and most likely are going to move against the city. Was it all worth it?"

Her face remained unchanged as she took it all in. Though she ruled it was a very unstable rule, with only the Crownlands and the Westerlands supporting the throne. She looked down and then back at him with a fury in her eyes he had never seem before. This Cersei was as foreign to him as a slaver from Astapor.

"What does it matter? They can all rot for all I care. No one would dare march on us and soon we will have the kingdoms. Sansa Stark and her bastard brother will have rotting heads on the city gates along with the traitorous Tyrells and Martells."

"Do you not realize that we can't do that. We don't have the men, money, or resources to subjugate the entire realm. Were lucky to hold the Crownlands as it is."

"Do you lack faith in our cause? I will not have that, not anymore. This is my kingdom and I will rule it even if it means dying."

"You sound just like the Mad King."

She grew angry at that but said nothing. She simply stood and walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her. He relaxed at her being gone and had no idea he was even that tense. He then began to feel the weight of her actions. He had lost his last child to the very mother and it angered him to no end. He sat there brooding over the fact when a messenger came in and he took it and saw the seal, the Stark seal. What the Starks wanted with him he would never know but he inevitably opened the note.

—

The day was cold and white and Jon stood on the highest battlements of Winterfell and looked over the land. The winter town had taken root not five hundred yards from the castle walls and many had flocked to the safety of its warm rooms. Many of the houses had gone home for the time being to shore up their homes and prepare for coming storms but he knew they would be back. The Knights of the Vale had stayed inside the walls and used the huge castle as a source of warmth while the lords hammered out a deal between them and the North. It was a dangerous thing that the were doing but the fact that they had taken Winterfell was rebellion enough.

Little word had been sent north but what he knew was that the Lannisters had taken the throne and something horrible had happened in the capital. All for the better because if they were busy they wouldn't pay any attention to them up here. He hadn't received any reports from the Wall and many of the wildlings had returned to the gift and their families. Tormund remained behind with a few others that had no family to return to and helped hold the castle. Sansa had remained relatively quiet since the fight but they had grown close again now that they were safe in their home again.

They had heard that Walder Frey had been murdered at the Twins and many were pleased that the traitorous bastard got what he deserved. Riverrun was in Tulley hands and it seemed as if the world was beginning to right itself. Jon knew that this would not last forever, not with winter here. He wished Bran and Arya could see Winterfell again as he knew they were out there somewhere he just hoped they would make it home one day. The lords of the Vale still resisted in Winterfell and were putting a great burden on the castles resources. Not to say that Jon wasn't grateful for their help but trying to house nearly fifty thousand men in one place was a difficult task.

Some of the small lords returned to the Vale to help hold the territory out of fear that the Lannisters would come knocking. Bronze Royce had told Jon he would take a third of the army and camp at Moat Cailin and hold the south. He was meant to march two days prior but a sudden snow storm prevented them form getting just beyond the winter town. Lady Brienne and Podrick had returned from the south and were helping Sansa whenever necessary but things had grown very quiet in the last few days. If Jon was to voice his opinion it was far too quiet for his liking.

The Manderlys had taken the Dreadfort and burnt it down and moved all of the people to the nearby castles for safety. Ser Davos was busy dealing with the lords at the moment discussing food and possible movements to help keep the North in Stark hands. Jon moved and descended to the main courtyard where many addressed him as 'Your Grace' which still felt rather strange to him. He never expected to become King in the North or the Lord of Winterfell, he didn't even think he would become anything more than Jeor Mormont's steward. He walked the familiar path and was met by Ghost who tailed him by two steps.

The godswood was dusted with a light snow as most was melted due to the hot springs but even in winter that heat wasn't enough. The weirwood stood as it had all his life, looking out over the other trees and the castle keeping watch and listening. Ever since the Lady Melisandre left he often wondered if her lord was simple one of the old gods. It seemed likely, but he could at least say that the Seven weren't real, they never answered the prays of those in the south. He sat in front of the heart tree and Ghost joined him laying down and placing his head in Jon's lap. Ghost was special, and Jon truly hoped that his wolf wouldn't suffer the fates of Lady, or Grey Wind.

He soon shut his eyes and offered a small prayer to whatever power was out there. It wasn't much, just that he could see Bran and Arya one last time before he died. He thought it unlikely but he never ruled anything out, especially after his own resurrection very little remained out of his ideas of possible. He heard footsteps to opened his eyes to find Sansa standing before him clad in a beautiful winter blue dress and a thick coat drawn around her shoulders. She sat down next to him and began to stroke Ghost who shut his eyes in content.

"So what brings you here my lady?" Jon asked.

"No need to be so formal, and you should know why. This is one place I can go to to get some peace."

"When did you stop praying?"

"When I was still in King's Landing. I had very little hope I would ever make it out of there alive but I suppose I can begin to hope and believe again. I imagine you still pray, but there just seems to be no point."

"I suppose I can understand but I always enjoyed coming out here. Whenever I sat here as a child I felt as if I was just one in the same as Rob or Bran. A Stark in full blood, here is where I felt at peace and when I prayed I felt as though someone was truly listening. After what I've endured it's hard not to believe there isn't something out there."

"Well philosophy aside I actually came to speak with you about something. We received a raven from Castle Black in the middle of the night."

"Is it time already?"

"No, a ranging party went north to swear in some northerners and found Bran at the tree. They brought him back to the castle and immediately sent word to us. He's alive Jon and within reach."

Sansa had gripped him at that point and Jon was in a state of shock. Bran was alive and soon to be heading home. He looked back at the tree and laughed internally at the fact he had just prayed to see him one more time and not moments later he was now coming home. He pulled Sansa in for a hug and heard a small sob escape her lips. Bran was true family to her and closer to here than Jon ever was. The family would never be whole but they could at least be together. Something father had said to Jon came back to him, he had said that the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.

It was more true now than anything else as Rob had died alone as well as father and Rickon. All of them were alone surrounded by enemies and they were picked off slowly but surely until very few of them remained. Now that they were coming back together Jon would never let them leave again, not without him. He intended to keep this family together for as long as he could.

—

She sat in the woods freezing in the newly fallen snow and wished that someone would just take her in. Arya had been running from the Twins for near on two days at this point but it seemed she was utterly lost and would most likely die. She had heard the wolves howl not three hours before and now they were on top of her. She simply hoped they would just pass right by her but it seemed unlikely as one was staring her down not ten feet away. Yet it made no moves to kill her, and kept howling into the sky. It was most likely drawing the rest in to enjoy the nice meal while it was fresh and she heard the snap of twigs as others came in.

She remembered Nymeria and how she let her go in the woods all those years ago. All of her training and all of her moves to get revenge and get home had been for nothing. All her skills as an assassin and she would be killed by wolves and it felt almost ironic. For all her life she wished she was a wolf, to be free and have nothing holding her back. Those were long forgotten dreams but they always lingered, it was what kept her as Arya instead of becoming no one.

She wanted to let go of all of that hate and anger, to forget the horrors she had seen and all of the despair she had suffered. That's why she jumped on it so quickly, it looked as a way to run away from her pain. But she couldn't forget that she was a Stark of Winterfell, she couldn't forget she was a wolf, she couldn't forget Jon or Sansa or Bran or Rickon. She could never be no one it wasn't her, she was strong tough, able to wear anything. Wolves were the best survivors, the best hunters, and endured all of the winters. Lions died in the cold, stags ran from it, roses withered and died, falcons flew south, krakens swam away from shore, the spear was abandoned and the red sun hid, the fish froze in the cold waters, but a wolf endured it all and kept on fighting until there was nothing left.

She supposed dragons could weather the winters but where were they? All of them had died years ago as the others killed them in fear and anger, but the wolf still endured. She knew Jon was alive as well as Sansa. There may not be many but enough to fight for, enough to search for, enough to live for. She supposed she was a little disappointed that she never became the assassin the Jaquen H'dgar had hoped she would. But it was all for the best but now it was for the worst. She sat out in the cold at the base of a tree fearing for her life.

The wolf kept howling and she spotted others coming into view but they never came up to her and started to wonder. Were they toying with her? Trying to get some sick enjoyment out of their prey before tearing her to shreds? If they were she was not happy, this was the worst way to die. They wolf turned and bowed as another, most likely the alpha, came into view. The first feature was that this wolf was huge compared to the others. At least twice their size if not bigger, but another was the large amount of grey on the top of the wolf along with the white belly.

Arya paused for a moment, she had seen that pattern before but it was years ago. She began to wonder if this was some coincidence or if this large wolf could actually be Nymeria. The wolf paused five feet away and stared a her not with hunger and anger but with reserve. It seemed as if it was waiting for Arya to make the first move. She sat up and looked at the wolf with intrigue and it did not shy away nor did it growl at her but remained passive.

"Nymeria?" Arya said.

The wolf took a step forward and Arya began to inch forward hoping to all of the gods that this was true.

"Is it really you?"

The wolf came the rest of the way forward and rested its head in her arms and she knew that this was Nymeria. Her friend that she had to send away almost four years ago. She hugged the wolf, her wolf with all her might and she felt the warmth spread through her body. The others howled into the winter sky and Arya pulled back to receive a lick from Nymeria which made her laugh. She had not laughed in a long time, not since she was a little girl. She stood and observed her surroundings now that she knew she was safe. The trees were bare and snow covered but the ground was wet with huge amounts of water everywhere and that was the first sign she needed to know she was headed in the right direction.

She was now entering the Neck and she would now try to find either Greywater Watch or Moat Cailin. But she knew one thing was true she was headed north, she was headed home.

—

Bran was sitting at a table eating a meat stew that was very warm with a blanket over his shoulders and Meera sitting next to him. The men who had found them at the tree were nice enough to provide them food though they wondered why we were so far north in the first place. He remainder cryptic and simply told them to contact the lord of Winterfell saying his brother was at Castle Black. Word had come back quickly that Jon wanted him home as soon as possible and he was to leave the Wall at first light the next morning.

Summer lay behind him, a nice source of warmth but their band had shrunk with the loss of Jojen and then Hodor. It was hard dealing with their deaths but in the end they were necessary if he was to survive and try to save the rest of the world. The fact that he was going to see his family and his home again brought up many old emotions he thought he had buried deep in his mind. They ate in relative silence with only the moving of knives and forks being heard. There were a few other black brothers in the dining hall but they kept to themselves and honestly he was glad that they did.

Bran heard the door open and a huge rush of cold air fly inwards but he ignored whoever it was that came in until Meera nudged him and then motioned behind him. There was a brother dressed in black with black hair reaching his shoulders and a small beard adorning his face. He held a piece of parchment with the wolf sigil on it so Bran knew where it came from and why he was here. He held it out and Bran grabbed it without saying anything but he didn't leave and stood there. This probably meant that he had something else to say than just handing him the message.

"Do you have something to say?" Bran asked.

"Yes, my name is Dolorous Edd, I'm a friend of Jon's. That arrived a few minutes ago stating an escort will meet you just south of the Last Hearth. But you won't be traveling by yourself down to the Umbers."

"What do you mean?"

"We had a band of giants show up that had finally returned after running from Stannis and Mance's Camp a few months back. So you'll be taking them south with you as there is no place for them here. Most of the wildlings in the Gift are either staying or have left to meet at Winterfell. I would hope they treat you well and that you are not surprised by their sudden appearance." Edd stated.

"That's fine I mean you can't really let them stay north of the Wall anymore can you?" Bran quipped.

"No, you're right on that account. Also let Jon know were still up here and to keep ready for when those white fuckers come knocking."

"I'll be sure to do that."

He nodded and then walked off to get himself a meal. Bran unrolled the message and just like Edd had stated roughly twenty men would meet us a few miles south of the Umbers and escort us all that way back to Winterfell. It also said that Sansa and Rickon were desperate to see him after so many years, especially Rickon. He was glad to here his little brother survived all of the horror of the last few years after they departed. He knew what happened, the wierwoods showed him almost everything that was happening south. Robb and mother's death at the Twins, the Boltons short rule, Jon's death, his resurrection, the battle for Winterfell, and then the very brief glimpse of King's Landing and all the death that had happened there.

He asked one of the men about it and apparently they hadn't heard a thing and it came as a shock to them and some even didn't believe it until a raven came north the following day. Bran had also seen the white raven arrive meaning the changing of the seasons from autumn to winter at last. Dangerous times were ahead of them and the onset of winter would only make things worse, for many now knew what winter brought.

—

He stood silently at the edge of the woods looking up at the barrier in front of him. It was impressive and he admired the warm blooded beings for their accomplishment but now it was simply in his way. He had waited a long time for this day, he had slept in the north for so long that the world had drastically changed. He hated everything this world had become, the very place he was torn away from. He remembered very little of his first life but it was very violent and then they came and strapped him to a tree and plunged a dagger into his heart.

From then on he hated everything living, and soon he broke from his masters and hunted them as well. However some man defeated him and sent him into a deep slumber, but his god kept him alive. Many know him in this world The Great Other, Death, The Lion of Night, and many others but it was all the same. His god kept him alive, and allowed him to see the world through the ice, he could see the Wall and all of those on it. He saw Winterfell, where he was last defeated, he saw all of the Starks, and that one boy.

Starks are the bane of his existence, the defeated him before and are now another thorn in his side. That young one the raven had protected for so long was south, out of his reach. The young girl was moving north towards her family, the older in Winterfell itself with the youngest. Then there was him, the one they called brother, he was far more than any of them could ever be. He had their blood but also the blood of fire as well, this is why his lord brought him back, to stop him before it was too late.

He was the Old Gods instrument, their savior just like the one who had come before. This Lord of Light was simply the most powerful of the Old Gods, and his master was the exact opposite of him. He could feel the power of the gods in the Wall, it was strong and had a vice grip on the ice. It wouldn't last, he could feel the power fading slowly, just as winter grew stronger in the air. Soon it would be time, and then his victory would be assured. He had waited eight thousand years for this, he could wait a little longer.

 **So this is an idea I had while we wait on the show, so let me know what you think. If you like it let me know and if you want me to continue, that as well. Comment on what you like, which character you** **want** **to see and all that. Enjoy and review. -starwarswiz**


End file.
